On 18 May, Portugal held snap parliamentary elections following the collapse of the previous government after a failed motion of confidence.
ALDE Party member Iniciativa Liberal increased its vote share slightly to 5.5%, securing its place once again as the fourth-largest political force in the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic.
The party won 9 seats, electing MPs in Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro, Braga and Setúbal, including the successful recovery of a fourth seat in Lisbon, a seat it had narrowly lost in the last election.
While the overall result marks Iniciativa Liberal’s best showing yet, it comes in the context of a highly fragmented political landscape.
In this complex context, Iniciativa Liberal President Rui Rocha highlighted in his closing speech how their campaign stood out for its tone and consistency:
“We rose to the occasion when others failed. We ran a positive campaign, while others resorted to personal attacks and systematic targeting, particularly of Iniciativa Liberal. But it’s also important to tell you that we were right at the right moments — and I wouldn’t trade that position, the position of Iniciativa Liberal, for anything.”
“Looking at the results, what we see at this stage is that the possible majorities are already formed. Therefore, our role will be to continue, in Parliament, to defend our ideas, to keep telling the Portuguese people that they have here a trustworthy party that will stand up for them and that will strive to move Portugal forward from the Parliament, where we now have greater representation.”
Moving forward, Iniciativa Liberal will continue fighting for economic freedom, institutional reforms and good governance in Portugal.
Photo: Iniciativa Liberal